In the telephone industry, it was an object in conventional practice in the past to provide substantial weight to a telephone base, because, at that time, it was believed that weight conveyed to the user that the product had technical value, was of advanced design, and was dependable in operation. For this purpose, it was not unusual to add weight, other than that required for telephone function, to a telephone base to create the illusion that the user had an article of value. Such added weight conventionally was in the form of added lead masses situated within the telephone base. However, over more recent years, and now particularly with the development of portable telephones, i.e. cellular or radio telephones, attitudes of the public have changed in that weight is considered to be an inconvenience which detracts from the appeal of a telephone. This attitude now applies to telephones generally. As a result, extra weight is no longer added to telephone bases and one of the objectives is in contrast, weight reduction accompanied in many cases with size reduction. The new designs of telephone bases include housings which have minimum weight but necessarily requiring a thickness of at least about 3 millimeters so as to require the desired robustness and strength. It has also, in more recent times, become an object in product design to save on production materials, not only from an economic standpoint but also so as to save on resources. Weight reduction in telephone bases is thus of great assistance in this respect.